Manufacturing is the foundation of a nation and the basis for its strength. As the “nerve center” of manufacturing, industrial control systems are a crucial pivot for the deep integration of new-generation information technology and manufacturing. They are essential for the intelligent transformation and digital transition of the manufacturing sector, gradually becoming a “new track” for industrial upgrading and economic development. In recent years, Qingdao has placed great emphasis on the integration of the digital economy and the real economy, promoting the deep and practical advancement of “intelligent transformation, digital transition, and network connectivity,” with the digital transformation coverage rate of large-scale industries reaching 90.9%, and the core competitiveness of advanced manufacturing clusters significantly improving.
Recently, the industrial control system characteristic industrial cluster in Shinan District was selected for the 2024 list of characteristic industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Currently, the Shinan District industrial control system cluster has 8 specialized and innovative “little giant” enterprises and over 40 specialized small and medium-sized enterprises, with an annual output value of nearly 20 billion yuan and total R&D investment exceeding 2 billion yuan, accumulating over 4,000 authorized invention patents.
Industrial Control Cluster Development
With the continuous increase in the number of cars in urban areas, have you ever felt “headaches” when trying to find a parking space? When a car enters an underground parking garage, is satellite navigation sometimes not sensitive enough? In the digital age, Qingdao car owners can use a comprehensive “Smart Parking” app that integrates functions such as finding parking spaces and exploring routes, providing a full range of smart parking services including space inquiry, reservation, and navigation.
“Our self-developed Smart Parking urban-level static traffic platform deeply integrates new-generation information technologies such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digital twins with parking scenarios. Through the construction of a smart and digital platform, we achieve orderly parking with available spaces, enhancing the utilization and turnover rate of parking resources,” said Cui Daoan, Director of Brand Promotion at Songli Group. Currently, “Smart Parking” covers various scenarios including on-street parking, off-street parking, and shared parking, operating in over 40 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Qingdao, managing over 600,000 parking spaces.
As a leading enterprise in the Shinan District industrial control system cluster, Songli Group ranks first in the country for on-street parking space management. Building on this, the group is extending its business scenarios into the smart community construction field, relying on the “Smart Community” brand to provide digital, visual, and platform-based solutions for grassroots community governance. From Smart Parking to Smart Community, Songli Group has spent ten years mastering over 400 core patent technologies in artificial intelligence, big data, and smart hardware, earning recognition as a national-level specialized and innovative “little giant” enterprise, a Shandong Province gazelle enterprise, and a national high-tech enterprise.
Another specialized and innovative “little giant” enterprise in the cluster, Qingdao Jicheng Electronics Co., Ltd., mainly engages in the R&D, production, integration, and technical services of smart gas meters and smart water meters, being one of the leading domestic suppliers of comprehensive solutions for smart water and gas management. “We have completed the iterative evolution from direct-reading meter technology to ultrasonic fully electronic metering technology,” said Han Feizhou, Chairman of Jicheng Electronics. The company has achieved domestic substitution of core ultrasonic metering technologies and related products, breaking the foreign technology monopoly, with cumulative product exports exceeding 1 million units to date.
It is worth mentioning that Jicheng Electronics began researching fluid flow ultrasonic metering technology in 2014, with several core technologies reaching international advanced levels. The company has participated in the formulation and revision of several standards for smart water and gas management in China. From the “upstream” core algorithms and chips to the “midstream” instrument manufacturing, and down to the “downstream” instrument usage and information software operation services, Jicheng Electronics’ business spans the entire industrial chain, with all its technological achievements having been transformed. In 2023, the company completed a technical contract transaction amounting to 26.4149 million yuan.
Yuan Liqiu, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Shinan District Bureau of Industry and Information Technology, introduced that Shinan District is deeply laying out the industrial control system industry, promoting the industry towards specialization, branding, and high-end development. The development trend of key enterprises in the industrial control system sector is positive, with core industries growing steadily and rapidly, gathering over 200 small and medium-sized enterprises represented by Qingdao Jereh Control Technology Co., Ltd. and Qingdao Huazheng Information Technology Co., Ltd.
Driving Industrial Intelligence
With the arrival of the industrial intelligence era, industrial control systems face unprecedented challenges for innovation, urgently needing to integrate cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data analysis, and the Internet of Things to upgrade traditional industrial control systems into intelligent systems. This aims to achieve more efficient, precise, and sustainable production processes, thereby promoting the digital transformation of manufacturing and the new industrialization process.
Industry insiders indicate that in recent years, the demand for the integration of new technologies in industries such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaics, and semiconductors has been extremely urgent. Traditional industrial automation products, due to their closed nature and lack of openness, struggle to meet customer application scenario needs. Especially in industries like semiconductors and photovoltaics, application scenarios typically require high speed, high precision, and multi-axis control, thus choosing intelligent industrial control systems will significantly enhance production speed, efficiency, and precision.
In the face of the challenges and opportunities for quality upgrades in the industrial control system industry, Shinan District will focus on breaking through technical challenges in control software for industries such as electric power, petrochemicals, and integrated circuits, forming a “1+3” core technology industrial system. Upholding the core concept of “application-driven, demand-oriented, integrated and open, innovative development,” the district will vigorously develop large-scale industry control software in key areas such as petrochemicals and energy transportation, focusing on key technologies, and building a high-standard large-scale industrial control system software hub to assist in the transformation and optimization of the industry.
“We focus on the automatic control needs of leading industries such as petrochemicals, electric power, and integrated circuits, taking the lead in establishing an automatic control software industry alliance. We are accelerating cooperation with the Software College of China University of Petroleum, relying on leading enterprises like Sinopec to integrate resources from industry, academia, research, finance, and application, promoting innovation and cooperation along the industrial chain, and creating a complete industrial chain and complementary ecological environment for software industry development,” Yuan Liqiu stated. In the next steps, the district will also strengthen the gathering of software talent, promote the integration of industry and education, increase financial support, establish a special fund for software industry development, and enhance financing service support for industry development.
At the same time, the Qingdao Digital Economy Industrial Park, where the Shinan District industrial control system cluster is located, creates a favorable development environment, providing important guarantees for the healthy growth of small and medium-sized enterprises. He Changze, Deputy General Manager of Qingdao Hainuo Investment Development Co., Ltd., the professional operation service agency of the Qingdao Digital Economy Industrial Park, stated that the park actively optimizes and improves the innovation and entrepreneurship service system and ecological environment, continuously enhancing the supporting services for industrial development around the elements of funding, technology, talent, and market. Additionally, it integrates and utilizes the existing technology transfer and incubation platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Technology Transfer Center and the Qingdao Digital Content Industry Innovation Valley, guiding and supporting universities, research institutes, and enterprises to build key laboratories, technology innovation centers, and other technology innovation platforms, forming an innovative ecosystem that promotes the digital transformation of the industry.
Source: Qingdao Daily